Thursday, February 22, 2007

I and the bird #43: IATB at the Movies!

Welcome to the I and the Bird multiplex cinema. I’m glad you found us. Why don’t you head over to the lobby where you can pick up some nice refreshments; perhaps a warbler-friendly coffee or a nice glass of wine (from a bottle stoppered with a real cork naturally). Anyway enough chat, here’s your ticket so once you’ve picked up your refreshments make your way through to the screens and enjoy our feature presentations.Currently showing on our 24 screens are a range of new and classic movies. Here’s this week’s listings:

Screen 1: A Man For All Seasons(1966) - One of the main characters in the tale of Sir Thomas Moore is a cardinal; just like in Pam’s backyard over at Tortoise Trail [I know what you’re thinking and yes the film links are all going to be this tenuous].

Screen 2: The Maltese Falcon(1941) - The real Maltese falcons were a famous race of peregrines so prized for falconry they were the only rent paid by the Knights of St. John for possession of Malta during their tenure. Sadly the peregrines of Malta (like most of the other birds) are long gone but Duncan of Ben Cruachan Blog went searching for peregrines in Australia and found a whole lot more.

Screen 5: Batman Returns(1992) - We’re not showing the recent Christian Bale effort but Tim Burton’s gothic classic in which the Bat does battle with a bird; the Penguin. Over at Neurophilosophy we can learn about real life bat and bird battles.

Screen 11: Miami Vice(2006) - I’m sure Charlie was well behaved on his trip to Miami but the black markings around the throat on the yellow-throated warblers in the gallery at his Bird Blog do remind me a little of Colin Farrell’s handlebar moustache.

Screen 16: The Longest Spur(1968) - 10,000 Birds’ Mike shares a tale of 2 longspurs; one seen, one unseen (but without the original film’s western style gun fighting obviously).

Screen 17: Confessions of a window cleaner(1975) - Well I presume Sunnybank keeps the windex handy to enjoy all these birds. Nice pictures too. How appropriate her blog is the "View from my Window"Screen 18: Private Benjamin(1980) - In this film Private Benjamin (Goldie Hawn) ends up spending time with elite regiment the Thorn Birds. Trevor of Trevor’s Birding came across some thorn birds himself; Chestnut-rumped Thornbills.

Screen 21: Where Eagles Dare (1968) - This must be a film about Birdfreak's expedition along the Mississippi River in Illinois, USA. Not just a few eagles either; lots and lots of eagles.Screen 22: The Eagle has Landed(1976) - Not only did Birdchick see eagles land, but she saw some actual celebrities too. All the details are here in a post that I trust has the requisite truthiness.

Screen 23: The Da Vinci Code(2006) - This film features a monk who keeps turning up where one wouldn't expected. So did David's GBBC. All the details and more at Search & Serendipity.

Screen 24: Night of the Living Dead(1968) - Although this isn’t a blog post I couldn’t resist the chance to pun about the good news that somewhere in Australia the Night parrot is still Living and not, as thought Dead (geddit?). Especially since no-one contributed posts about nesting cuckoos.

Bravo!! Either that took a lot of research or you're a true film buff. Congratulations on assembling this great collection of avian reports into such a creative format. So much fun to read - some of it hilarious. A real winner. And thanks for linking me with A Man for All Seasons - one of my all time favourites.

I have to object to the first movie comment. Thomas More was canonized as a saint, but he was not a cardinal. Cardinals are church officials who elect the pope and assist in church administration; most are bishops, but in the sixteenth century the college of cardinals included the priests and deacons of the seven major churches of Rome. Thomas More was a scholar, lawyer, and government official. He never was ordained or held an ecclesiastical office, as far as I know.

John - I was actually referring to Cardinal Wolsey rather than More himself but I must confess I can't remember how significant Wolsey is in the film version. One to re-rent I guess. You are to my knowlege correct that More himself held no rank in the church at the time.